Rare Bowie Versions Seeing the Light

Two new collections of rare and previously unreleased David Bowie recordings are being unveiled over the next several weeks and months.

Several tracks have, in fact, already been released from the streaming EP Is It Any Wonder? A version of “The Man Who Sold the World” made its online appearance on Bowie’s 74th birthday January 8th, with a 1997 acoustic re-recording of Tin Machine’s “I Can’t Read” following on Jan. 17. The weekly drip of archived gems continues into mid-February.

Then there’s ChangesNowBowie, a stripped-down nine-song session recorded in New York City’s Looking Glass Studios in November 1996 during rehearsals for Bowie’s 50th birthday concert at Madison Square Garden. With Bowie accompanied by Reeves Gabrels (guitar), Gail Ann Dorsey (bass, vocals) and Mark Plati (keyboards, programming), the set was broadcast on the BBC on Jan. 8, 1997, interspersed with an interview with Bowie and birthday greetings from famous fans such as Scott Walker and Robert Smith. The aforementioned rendition of “Man Who Sold the World” comes from this recording, which will be released in limited quantities on LP and CD for Record Store Day 2020, taking place on April 18.